The Abraham Cowley Text and Image Archive

Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. From Tragicum theatrum actorum, et casuum tragicorum Londini publice celebratorum (Amsterdam, 1649), editor's copy. Strafford's death by attainder in May 1641 for his unpopular policies toward Ireland and Scotland was routinely regarded as a kind of rehearsal for King Charles I's execution; it was commemorated by Cowley in his Civil War 1.143-48 in terms likening it to Orpheus' death at the hands of the Thracian Bacchantes.